Soy de La U!!!!

So last Thursday night we went to a soccer game, LIGA or LA U (I don't know why it is LA U but it is) So it has been a while since I've been at a soccer game...let me think since somewhere around 2001 my senior year in College when the Messiah Falcons (my alma matar) won the National Title!!! WOO HOO and well this game was a tad different. First of all I have never been in a stadium where people sang, chanted and screamed for the entire and I mean ENTIRE game. They have so many specific chants and songs especially for La U. It was like church no it was more exciting then church, if only people would get as excited to go to church as they do to go to a soccer game. They sang in the loudest voices I have ever heard, they cheered, I'm sure some people prayed and it was just intense...what would happen if we did that in church??? Anyway it was a great game we won 7-0!! WOO HOO There were flares, we threw rolls of paper, people ran towards the fence when we got a goal...in fact that was a tad scary, all the people behind us just started running and pushing, and then of course there was the shower of beer that came sprinkling down where there was a goal. It was a lot of fun, definitely a cultural experience and hopefully we will get to go again :) Here are some pics so you can get a better image of my LIGA experience :)

Waiting for the Game to Begin!!

Part of the gang! Harrison, me, Kim, Christyn, Lucy and Kristin (siga no mas)

Lucy and Salomon

Me and Kimmy!

Harrison and I :)

Yes that would be some kind of smoke, powder stuff we were covered in it :o

Liga in the white! That guy in the middle we ate dinner with him once, ok well not really we went to eat Empanadas and he just happened to walk in while we were there!

First Goal!! Woo Hoo and this is what happens the fans climb the fence

Yoan, doing the "fan thing"

LIGA de ECUADOR!!!!!

Las 3 Muskateras :) The Three muskateers!

WE were very happy LIGA was winning!

Yep more of that flare, powder stuff, this time it was pink :)

Getting ready for another Goal!!!

And THERE IT IS!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!

More fans climbing the fence...OH WAIT that is one of our NILI's Kevin (with the backpack) and a seminary student (Patucho)

Last Goal and we won and the Aliens came to climb the fence :) haha, never a dull moment!
YEAH LIGA!!!!!

Oh my how time flies...

Well, I just have to tell you it's been alittle busy around here lately and unfortunately towards the bottom of my list of things to do is update my blog. I always have good intentions however it seems sleep usually wins on that debate. Anyway there is no way I can write all that has happened since I last wrote which was waaaaay back in sept. Oh goodness how time flies! But I will post some highlight pics of what has been going on. I must say I can't believe we are three weeks into November, in one week I leave for 5 days in Galapagos with our NILI classic students this trip seemed so far away when I first got here in August, in two weeks I will be on my way to Shell for out last trip of the semester, in three weeks I will be 31 :O and in four weeks I will be home in Pennsylvania so needless to say things aren't going to calm down at all in the next few weeks :) But it's ok I must say God has blessed me more then I could ever have imagined and more then I can ever explain in allowing me to live this life, I Love it and all because He called me and I was obedient to His calling! Thank you Jesus for this wonderful life I get to live and Thank you that you are with me every step of the way!!! TO YOU be the all the Glory and Honor, Praise your Holy Name!!!

So I hope you enjoy the pics!

This is Cotopaxi, one of the beautiful mountains here in Ecuador...this was on our way to Riobamba for our ministry trip waaaaay back in Sept.

Every time we go to Riobamba we visit and hike up Mt. Chimborazo, it is the highest mountain closest to the middle of the world...and here I am on top of a monument close to the first refuge at Chimborazo and you can see the top of Chimborazo behind me...it's really high and hard to breathe up there!

Here we are in Riobamba for our ministry week. Project #1-sod the front yard of the church and District center...when we arrived there was a big pile of dirt, here we are almost finished! Everyone was very dirty after this job...I was sad because I had been sick and couldn't help "play in the dirt".

Ministry Week Project #2-We built and painted these desks for the children at the church, they are starting a Compassion International program at the church and last May NILI and a team from Mount Vernon made benches for them, the kids had been praying for some desks and God Blessed us with the opportunity to be an answer to their prayer!

Ministry Week Project #3-We visited the Riobamba School and sang and practiced our Spanish and English with the kids and of course we gave out candy! Here are Kevin and Christyn (our two NILI classic students) giving out the sweets!

Ministry Week Project #4-Once the pastor found out that Jill (a wife of one of our professional students) liked to paint he asked her to paint a mural for the cross on the front wall of the church. Here is Jill and her final project!

With the Ministry aspect of our trip completed we headed to the coast for a different side of Ecuador. On our way we came across snow...so of course we had to get out and play in it...yes I was in flip flops and capris...we were on our way to the coast aka warmer weather...never did I think we would have to go through snow...just shows the variety of weather and experiences we have here in Ecuador :)

We made it to Guayaquil and my new favorite restaurant "Cafe Teri" where you can get all traditional coast food, which is very different from sierra food (or Mountain food-Quito is in the mountains so we eat alot of mountain food aka RICE...coast food is very different) So here was our sampling of coast food...We had ALOT of food and it was sooooo good!

After a few days of sighseeing in the largest city in Ecuador-Guayaquil- we headed to the beach. Because if we travel 8 hours to the coast we HAVE to go to the beach. So here are Kim and I in Salinas with the catch of the day!

After a week on the road we headed back to Quito while we were comfortably riding inside our sprinter in seats we were reminded to be thankful for our van because if not we would have to ride back to Quito in public transportation...which sometimes means your seat is anywhere there is room...even on the roof!

The first weekend in October we headed to Otavalo for a weekend of shopping at the largest outdoor market in the world and to enjoy the Indiginous Culture of Ecaudor. Sunday morning we worshipped in a Nazarene Indiginous church here are some of the ladies!

We had a new NILI professional family join us right before this trip. The Benedicks are here studying spanish so that in December they can move to Shell to be Medical Missionaries. They have two great kids Caleb (3) and Jael (1) The two kids are always making new friends, here is Jael making friends with the Indiginous people...they call her muñeca because she has blond hair and blue eyes, and if you go to a toy store and look at the dolls 90% of them have blond hair and blue eyes!

My how time flies cont'd...

Continuing into the month of October, we had a few Birthdays in October...7 to be exact and we like to party...so it seemed like we were having birthday parties all month here are just a few of the birthday pics!

Lucy turned 30 however she wasn't too thrilled, so we had a quinciñera or a 15th birthday party for her, a traditional 15th birthday is all pink and it signifies when a girl becomes a woman.

Lucy and Her Husband Solomon


Just a little love for the birthday girl :)

Kristina Benedick also turned 30 so we gave her a little serenada (we all went to her window at about 10pm usually it is mid-night but that was just too late and sang Happy Birthday.)

Kim Also had a Birthday in October Here she is with her cheesecake and her very special flower/ice cream arrangement (Caseros de Chocolate her Favorite Ice Cream!! It's so good!)
Here we are celebrating Kim!

During this semester we have had alot of firsts and one of those firsts was celebrating the 1st Birthday of Jael Benedick! What a precious little girl and what a blessing the Benedick family has been to us, we are so glad they are here studying with us!

Here is Jael and her Mommy Kristina enjoying her chocolate Birthday cake


Changing scenes, this was a night trip around Quito here we are at the Panecillo or Large Angel Over Quito checking out the Night lights! So Pretty

Me, Lucy and Kim trying to stay warm but enjoying the beautiful Night

Another Look at the city Lights!

Another Part of our Quito at Night tour was carriage Rides around Old Town, it was a lot of fun!

We ended our fun night at a rooftop Restaurant that overlooked the city! Here is a view of where we started our Night at the Panecillo from the restaurant.

We took a day trip to a new museum called Tulipe, There were lots of fun plants here are Kim and I just being goofy...as usual :)

Tulipe had lots of trails and streams to walk in so we had to wear our water shoes here are the Pink shoe girls! Lucy, me and Jael :)

Caleb found a buddy when we were leaving Tulipe, so he brought Mr. Inch worm home with him.

Another trip we took was to the Teleferico, which is a cable car ride up the side of the Mt. Pichincha. Here Caleb just fell out of the sky, good thing his dad was there to catch him

Just hanging out at roughly 13,000 ish feet above sea level over looking Quito

October came to an end with an unusual sight here in Quito... Trick or treaters. Here I am with my first two Trick or Treaters Jeremy and Valentina.

A little later I had more visitors... The Benedick family came with a Fresa (strawberry) Jael and

Buzz lightyear Caleb

We started out November with a Holiday Nov. 1 and 2 here in Ecuador we celebrate the day of the dead. On this holiday families, usually indiginous families travel to cemetaries to"eat with the dead" yep that's right they make a ton of food and take it to the cemetary and eat with their dead relatives. This is a picture of the street outside the cemetary, they are selling flowers and things to leave at the graves.

Inside a mostly indiginous cemetary

A family with their food, they bring enough for the whole family plus enough to leave at the grave for the deceased.

Here is an example of what someone left: soda, bread, oranges, bananas and flowers

The flowers left by the family members

Another tradition for the Day of the Dead in Ecuador is to have Colada Morada (or Purple Colada a type of drink) and guaguas de Pan (bread in the shape of children) This is a tradition that mixes Ecuador Culture. The Colada Morada represents the Indiginous side of the culture in that it is a dark color like the skin of the indiginous and it is made of fruits that come from the ground because the indiginous are known to be workers of the ground. The guaguas de Pan represent the spanish side of the culture because the bread is made from wheat flour that was brought over from spain and is lighter in color like the skin of the spaniards. It is a mix of the two cultures which make up the Ecuadorian people! Here we are ready to learn how to make the colada and the pan. All the herbs and fruits on the table make up the Colada.

The bread makers....

Caleb and I stiring the Colada Morada

The pot of all the herbs that go into making the Colada Morada!

Jael was all about being our taster...she LOVED the Colada Morada!!!

Caleb and his guagua de Pan this one had chocolate inside...YUM

Here is just a sampling of the finished product Colada Morada and guaguas de Pan!

Lucy, Kim and I just being the three muskateers :) We got a little crazy after cooking all day

The last Academic trip of the semester was to the water museum Here are Caleb, Christyn and Kevin playing in the waterfall!

We got to play with Bubbbles here is Evelyn the Director of Spanish and her bubble!

Jael had fun...i think we ALL had fun!

I am being a water molocule falling from the top of the mountain down to the rivers and streams

Making friends wherever we go :)

The water muesum is on the side of a mountain overlooking Quito here is a view of the tunnels.

Well I think you are now all up to date! Please leave comments or questions if you have any :) I love hearing from you all! Thank you so much for your prayers and please keep praying especially as we prepare for the Galapagos next week and the jungle the week after that and just that God would be with us in this place as we finish this semester. I hope all is well wherever you are and that God is showing you his great and mighty love!

God Bless you all, and hey i'll see you soon :)

~jen